U.S. Supreme Court Decision Harms Women

ALBANY, NY (04/18/2007)(readMedia)-- NOTE TO EDITORS: A rally will be held outside the Senate chambers at the state Capital at 3:30 p.m. today. Patricia A. McGeown will be there and available for interviews.

The U.S. Supreme Court today, April 18, 2007, upheld by one vote the federal abortion ban in the cases Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood and Gonzales v. Carhart. The ban, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2003, criminalizes abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy that doctors say are safe and the best to protect women's health. Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood joined other Planned Parenthoods, medical groups, women's and civil rights organizations across the country in denouncing today's ruling.

Patricia A. McGeown, UHPP President and CEO, declared the ruling "the direct outcome of anti-choice politics in the White House and the purposeful appointment of Supreme Court judges who are willing to disregard the health and lives of women."

According to PPFA Deputy Director of Litigation and Law Eve Gartner, who argued Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood. "This ruling flies in the face of 30 years of Supreme Court precedent and the best interest of women's health and safety. Today the court took away an important option for doctors who seek to provide the best and safest care to their patients. This ruling tells women that politicians, not doctors, will make their health care decisions for them."

When President Bush signed the federal abortion ban in 2003, PPFA, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (PPGG), the Center for Reproductive Rights, the National Abortion Federation and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged it in federal district courts around the country. Leading ob/gyns at major medical institutions testified against the ban because it would prevent them from providing the care that is best to protect their patients' health. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Nurses Association and many other medical groups oppose the federal ban. Until now, every court that examined the ban struck it down because, among other things, it fails to protect women's health.

"While the Bush administration has been appointing justices to the Supreme Court who threaten women's health," stated McGeown, "Planned Parenthood has been focused on our top priorities: the health and safety of our patients. This decision does not bode well for the future reproductive health and rights of American women. We will work to ensure women are provided with the best and safest possible care under the law. We will also count on New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer to fulfill his commitment to guarantee, through state regulation and statute, that women in New York State continue to be able to access safe and legal abortion."

Just seven years ago, the Supreme Court had struck down a very similar abortion ban enacted in Nebraska because it did not have a health exception, with Justice O'Connor providing the critical vote that upheld protections for women's health and safety. Since then, Justice O'Connor retired and was replaced on the court by Justice Alito who proved to cast the swing vote in this decision.

"The new Bush court turned the clock back on women's health and safety with this ruling," said PPFA President Cecile Richards. "It's 2007. Americans need Supreme Court justices who recognize the importance of women's health."

For more information, visit www.federalabortionban.org.

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Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood is a community-based non-profit organization providing advocacy, education and medical services for reproductive health care in the capital region since 1934. Our services are delivered with special concern for the underserved.

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